The Campus was established by President Jack Ryan, Sr. with the help of Attorney General Pat Martin after the conclusion of The Bear and the Dragon and before the events of The Teeth of the Tiger, during which Ryan left the Presidency. Backed with one hundred blank presidential pardons, The Campus operates outside of any federal jurisdiction as it is not a formal member of the United States intelligence community.

The Campus is situated between the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA). This enables The Campus to remain in the loop about intelligence briefings without the cumbersome organizational bureaucracy or political red tape.

The Campus operates under the cover of Hendley Associates, a financial trading institution. Utilizing the intelligence briefings from the CIA and NSA, Hendley Associates is able to see currency or market fluctuations ahead of most financial institutions and is able to utilize this information on the financial market. The profits generated from trading on financial institutions are utilized by Hendley Associates to fund the operations of The Campus.

After the breach of The Campus by Chinese Special Forces operatives in "Threat Vector", Hendley relocated The Campus from West Odenton, Maryland to Alexandria, Virginia.